Surf Camp Day 1

Dear Readers, The long passage below is about my first day at surf camp below. The cheat sheet version is that today was amazing and I caught my first wave, which was the most amazing feeling ever!!! (Did I mention is was AMAZING?) I understand it is long. It's more for my own reminiscence, but feel free to read it of course, I just thought I'd give you an out. Maybe come back to it if you're extremely bored one day. This picture is me catching one of, if not my very first wave!! I'm clearly going pro. The only reason this sport is not in the Olympics is because I would just always win the Gold medals...it just wouldn't be fair to others.

Today began what was probably the greatest weekend of my life (I am clearly writing this after the fact)!! Task: Learn to surf.

After we woke up, fairly early but not too extreme, and ate brekkie, we were handed our wet suits and began our journey to the beach. It was only like a 10 minute walk if that, but it was nice out. Right off the bat, we went for a quick jog to get the blood pumping, and did a group stretch. We were then split into groups and the lessons began. I was a little uneasy about my group, because I had been completely split up from anyone I knew, but not for long. Lesson one part A: Prone Position. We learned how to paddle and place our hands correctly in order to push our upper body up. This is what we started with in the water. After we each got a few waves laying like this it was time for Lesson one part B: Standing up This was definitely more of a task, but one I was determined to accomplish. We learned, in the sand first, how to correct maneuver our feet and place them correctly in order to stand and not fall over...sound simple right? Wrong. The instructors were so helpful though. They would push you into the wave and stay with you, telling you what to do to get up along the way. So my first wave ended like most everyone's, with a face full of sand, as did my second. Note to future surfer learners...DON'T RUSH. That was my problem. I was trying to stand up too quickly and as a result, ate S#!t. Now my third attempt, well this time it was different. I paddled with the wave, pushed my self up into prone position, slid my back foot up, steadied my front foot (all slowly and methodically, thinking about every step), stood up and rode the wave!!!!!!!!!! The sense of euphoria, and accomplishment that immediately came over me as I rode that little itty bitty white wave in was uncanny. I felt like I ruled the world. Nothing was impossible. I could do anything!! (Tight rope across the Grand Canyon anyone?...Oh wait, someone already did that). And as the morning lessons progressed I caught two more waves, equally as rewarding.
Lesson 2: Speeding up and Slowing down. The afternoon session began after we got some grub and also some sunning in. The weather was much less nice than this morning however (this morning it was warm, sunny, and a little breezy). It got much colder, and windier, and the tide had come up so high. But before getting back in the water, and let me add in that putting on a wet wetsuit is no bueno, we learned how to speed up by leaning forward and also slow down by, you guessed it, leaning back. The weather made it much harder to catch waves, but I did get a few under my belt before the day was up.

And thus ends my rant...until tomorrow that is. (considering it's already happened).